78 Steps

Posted By Jade on September 8, 2009

Finally, we come to the end of our list of divination decks. If I’ve missed any decks you’d like to see covered, please feel free to leave me a comment. If I get enough, I’ll do a “reader’s choice” list.

• Ukiyoe Tarot: A deck based on Japanese Ukiyoe prints. Created by Koji Furuta, this 78 card deck has illustrated Majors, but “pip-style” Minors. The Minor Arcana do have some minimal background illustration that can help a reader find the mood of the card, if not the actual meaning.
• Viscounti Sforza Tarot: Created by A. Atanassov & Giordano Berti, this deck is a reproduction of one of the oldest known tarot decks. The cards are extremely large — making them awkward to shuffle. The Majors are fully illustrated, but the Minors are pips with some decorative foliage. The cards have no captions or other wording. This is a great deck for tarot history buffs.
• Witches Tarot: This deck by Ellen Cannon Reed is not the Tarot of the Witches made famous by the James Bond Movie Live and Let Die. This is a pagan/Wiccan-focused deck. All 78 cards are fully illustrated and the Major Arcana show the Sephiroth that border each card’s corresponding Kabbalistic path.
• Xultun Tarot: Based on Mayan imagery, this 78 card deck by Peter Balin has fully illustrated Majors and Minors. The Major Arcana are numbered only, using the Mayan numbering system and can be fitted together like a puzzle to form one large picture. The Minor Arcana have captions in five languages, including English.
• Yeager Tarot of Meditation: Created by Marty Yeager, this deck has a dramatically illustrated Major Arcana only loosely similar to the RWS (Rider Waite Smith) deck.  The Minor Arcana are pip cards set against colored backgrounds (different colors for each suit) reminiscent of space scapes and are less dramatically rendered, almost cartoon-like.
• Zerner-Farber Tarot: This richely illustrated deck by Amy Zerner & Monte Farber is a feast for the eyes. All 78 cards are illustrated using a unique type of collage, incorporating illustrations, fabric pieces, trims and other odds and ends. This is a smaller sized version of the couple’s Enchanted Tarot.

Category: Individual Decks
Tags: decks